Paapa Essiedu (born 11 June 1990) is a British actor. He grew up in East London with his mother, who was a fashion and design teacher. His family comes from Ghana, where he has a half brother and sister. He won a scholarship to The Forest School, Walthamstow and his ambition as he grew older was to become a doctor. Essiedu became more involved with Shakespeare when he was accepted into the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Perhaps Essiedu's most famous Shakespeare role was for the lead char ...